Forty Under 40: Emily Curry

Emily Curry has built a successful career that connects and motivates consumers along the path to purchase.

“Understanding consumer behavior and designing programs that can motivate or change a behavior has been an obsession of mine,” she said.

That fascination and a love for marketing sprang from a market research class taught by Molly Rapert at the University of Arkansas. Curry, born and raised in Fayetteville, graduated from the UA in 2004 with a marketing degree, emphasizing retail. She was named to the dean’s list all four years.

Her first job was with shopper marketing firm MARS Advertising in Bentonville. After several years working in the agency world, supporting various brands including Clorox and Procter & Gamble, she realized she wanted to be in her clients’ shoes — not just executing marketing programs but also designing them.

She bridged that transition in 2010 with a job working for IRI, a market leader in monitoring product sales across critical retail outlets. She joined J&J two years later in a shopper insights role, supporting the Walmart team. As her career advanced, industry publications featured her work, and Consumer Goods Technology magazine named her a Who’s Who in Shopper Marketing in 2018 and 2019.

In 2019, J&J presented her with the James E. Burke Award, a prestigious internal award, for launching a successful partnership between the company, Walmart and American Red Cross.

That same year, she took on a new role focusing on J&J’s sustainability initiatives, community outreach and giving, and retail healthcare.

Curry leads J&J’s community giving strategy in Northwest Arkansas. She’s also an Arkansas board member of the American Diabetes Association and is an adviser to the Chi Omega women’s fraternal organization at the UA.